Arranging hard drives in new computer.

[Intimid8tor]

Broke down and bought a new computer. Came with a 1tb hdd and I have a 1tb ssd (which can be returned) I'm going to buy a 250gb or 500gb nvme ssd for the system drive.

My goal is to create a stable and quick system for basic computing. Don't currently game, but things can always change.

I have quite a few old hdd drives that I need to transfer files from and sort them out. Old computers from times past.

Worth it to run all 3 drives or sell/return the 1tb ssd?

I'll do a clean install of windows 10 from a thumb drive when I get it set up.

Any other advice for best ways to organize system vs program files on a windows 10 system? Program files with system files or separate?

I want it to be reliable and quick and like the idea of running a 2nd 1tb drive to backup the primary data drive. Also needs to be easy for the wife to use.

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[SkyHawk]

I keep system and program files on SSD. Also documents.

Pictures, video and Music libraries on spinning disk using redirection. iTunes backups on spinning disk. Anytime I need to edit videos they go to SSD.

But the better setup would be SSD large enough for everything, and a second SSD exactly like the first for a mirror image. You can mirror volumes in Windows 10.

I would buy an external USB drive case ($10) for those old drives, and one by one connect them to your new system and copy over what you need from them.

[Intimid8tor]

I keep system and program files on SSD. Also documents.

Pictures, video and Music libraries on spinning disk using redirection. iTunes backups on spinning disk. Anytime I need to edit videos they go to SSD.

But the better setup would be SSD large enough for everything, and a second SSD exactly like the first for a mirror image. You can mirror volumes in Windows 10.

I would buy an external USB drive case ($10) for those old drives, and one by one connect them to your new system and copy over what you need from them.

It's cool that windows 10 essentially can create a RAID array. I remember having to add a RAID card last time I did that. That makes a lot of sense to just use 2, 1 TB drives.

I do have an external dock that will accept drives. I plan to do just that. Plug them in and start going through them creating the master set of files we need to keep.

It's a long term project.

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[Intimid8tor]

1tb pcie nvme is pricey.

If I use a 500gb main drive and mirror that to a 1gb 2nd drive, do I lose the rest of the 1gb?

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[MrFancyPants]

Yes 1 TB NVMe is pretty pricey at the moment. If I were you I wouldn't sell the 1 TB SSD. I'd use it in conjunction with a 500 GB NVMe system drive, if that's your plan, but not RAID. Just use it as an extra drive and make sure you have proper backups. My desktop currently has a 500 GB SSD system drive and a 500 GB SSD data drive, which I use for video encoding and other routine stuff. Spindle drives in this day and age should only be used for NAS devices and long term storage which isn't accessed frequently. Standard SSDs are cheap enough.

I'm doing the same type of project you're doing, reorganizing all my data, and yeah it takes awhile. I have somewhere upwards of 12 TB of data I'm currently going through and it keeps growing, and I've lost track of how many hard drives I have laying around. I have probably in the neighborhood of 40 TB of storage and several network and external storage devices. I'm paranoid though and I require 3 copies of all my most important data, one set being cloud or cold storage.

[Intimid8tor]

I did find a 1tb Adata nvme for $160 on amazon with similar warranties to the upper end samsung ssd. I really wanted to use that nvme slot for speed and to keep maximum flexibility for adding stuff later on. I'm not great at backing up so a mirror drive would probably be good for me and worth the $120 I paid for samsung ssd. I can move the data off all the old hard drives into the 1tb hdd and then move it to the ssd mirror as I organize it.

I don't think I have more than 1 tb of real data. I have lots of duplicates as things have been replaced and computers have come and gone. Then again, I might be surprised.

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[Dragunov]

My MSI had a 500gb NVMe that I kept O/S, and a few slow loading games (no longer slow). I had a 960gb SSD for important apps, and other games, and a 1tb 7200rpm HDD in the optical drive bay for data storage, movies, Windows temporary files, and personal files like Pictures, music, etc.

I also have multiple external hard drives for backups.

I use Macrium Reflect to image my NVMe, and SSD, to my mechanical HDD.

I have my other personal computers set up in the same fashion.

[Dragunov]

If you load an NVMe drive more than halfway up, they tend to start slowing down. Always get twice the NVMe, that you think you need.

[Intimid8tor]

Couple questions as try to sort this out and make a final plan.

If you mirror (not raid) an ssd to an hdd, will it then be the speed of the hdd like it would in a RAID? Or will you still get the performance of the SSD, perhaps with a small hit?

In Windows 10, how do you move your temp files location to a different drive?

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[Dragunov]

Couple questions as try to sort this out and make a final plan.

If you mirror (not raid) an ssd to an hdd, will it then be the speed of the hdd like it would in a RAID? Or will you still get the performance of the SSD, perhaps with a small hit?

In Windows 10, how do you move your temp files location to a different drive?

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@Intimid8tor

No, it will work with the speed of a regular HDD. It may also need to be defragged. Not necessary if cloning from a HDD to a SSD, because the SSD controller, is sophisticated enough to transfer the data properly, however, the on-disk HDD controller isn't normally as sophisticated, and may not sequence the data properly. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Just depends on the HDD controller.

Here's how to move your Temp files elsewhere:

If you have a D: drive, make a folder, name it whatever you like. I use D:\TEMP.

RC "This Computer", "Computer", "My Computer"... Whichever flavor you have.

LC "Properties".
LC Advanced System Settings.
LC Environmental Variables.

In the top box, You'll see "Variable" and "Value".

First line is:

CompSpec C:\Windows.... Yadda yadda.
The next two lines deal with temporary files.

LC the first TEMP line. LC "Edit"

Under "Variable", type in TEMP. Under "Value", type the folder you just created.

Mine reads:

TEMP D:\TEMP.

Edit the next line below it to:

TMP D:\TEMP.


GoTo the bottom box. Scroll down and look for the variable, PSModulePath.

The two lines below that are Temporary file variables. Rename them exactly as you did the two previous lines, in the upper box by LC'ing them, then LC'ing "Edit".

Click "Ok" twice, and you're done. All your TEMP and TMP files are now redirected to the D:\TEMP folder, you created earlier.

You can dump ALL your Temporary files in one folder. Windows doesn't care.

[Deedle]

Return the SSD and get a 1tb NVMe

[Intimid8tor]

Return the SSD and get a 1tb NVMe

I have the nvme installed right now. Trying to decide if I want to use the platter drive for data or the ssd. Or both.

I have to decide if there is much benefit in running my data on an SSD vs a player drive. Two benefits are best and noise. My current computer acts like a heater which is fine when its 10 degrees outside. Sucks when its 90.

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[Dragunov]

I have the nvme installed right now. Trying to decide if I want to use the platter drive for data or the ssd. Or both.

I have to decide if there is much benefit in running my data on an SSD vs a player drive. Two benefits are best and noise. My current computer acts like a heater which is fine when its 10 degrees outside. Sucks when its 90.

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I'd use the platter drive for data, as you're going to be doing lot's of read/writes to it, and speed isn't that important for just data. I'd install the SSD in case you decide to do a little gaming, or video editing. You install your games on the SSD. If you install the SSD for data, you'll start using read/write cycles on the SSD.

[billofrights]

Use the 2nd SSD for data. Toss the spinning drive into one of these and use for incremental backups: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0028-_-Product Weekly, monthly, whatever.

I work in IT and have literal STACKS of 1tb hard drives sitting in my office. It's quick and easy to drop one in the dock, copy files, and then remove it to store. I simply don't have all that much data that is all that important to me. Probably 90% of what I have is replicated in multiple places online and offline.

[the86d]

In a perfect world, I have the OS on a smaller drive, data on a larger SSD, backup the SSD data drive to spinning rust, and back that up to rust to rust that I take offline...

You can redirect "Documents" to another drive with Windows 7, I haven't tried with Win10 yet... keeping all data on another SSD, but it is not as much of an issue these days because the reinstall doesn't require a format of your drive.

Be happy you are not looking at devices with soldered-on RAM/SSD... like some flagship Macs.